


Operation Hum

by Hybrid_and_Legacy



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, F/M, Mainly cinderXruby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-05-14 17:09:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5751286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hybrid_and_Legacy/pseuds/Hybrid_and_Legacy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been 2 years since a dear friend was killed by a never before seen creature of grimm, what could this mean for team RWBY and the 5 kingdoms?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nothingness

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic on this site!

Nothingness. If nothingness was an emotion, then that’s what Yang Xiao Long was feeling right now. Voices all around her speaking prayers of farewell; tears hitting the ground in tandem with the rain; choked sobs: those where the sounds that could be heard by anyone else in the crowd. But not by Yang.  
“Target is in sight,” is all she heard ringing in her head. “He’s open. I’m moving in.”  
How long had it been since it had happened? An hour? A day? A week? She couldn’t tell. Whenever she tried to remember how much timed had passed, all she could think of was… Nothing.  
Fiery red eyes that once burned with passion were now a darkened and sad, unrecognizable lilac. A face with a smile that once lit up a room, now awash with nothingness. People walked past her offering condolences. Nothing was said in return.  
“No, don’t engage until everyone is in position,” spoke the know-it-all voice of the ice princess in her head.  
“Yang, we need to go,” came the same voice from outside her head.  
An impossibly white hand reached out to grab her wrist, but it was grabbed instead.  
“Don’t,” came the soft voice of a crying faunus girl. “Let her be. We’ll be in the car when you’re ready, Yang.”  
She heard the friends' footsteps fading in the distance; a grey haired man walked up to the slab of stone on the ground. “It appears I did make a mistake. I'm sorry.”  
These words fell on the deaf ears of the blond Xiao Long. Like everyone else, the old man became muffled footsteps walking away. She was left alone standing in the freezing rain. She should have been cold in her torn t-shirt, but she didn’t feel the warm or the cold. She just felt… Nothing.  
Soon, or maybe not. But eventually she made the trek to her awaiting friends. The words on that piece of stone burned into her brain, the only thing left.  
Here lies Ruby Rose.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________  
2 Years Later

“Hey junior. Another,” Yang yelled loud enough to pierce the thick cloud of noise emerging from the surround sound. “Fuck it, just give me the whole damn bottle.” Yang slammed her glass on the table and the music stopped as a cracking sound rung through the empty bar. She looked down at her bleeding hand is confusion.  
“When did that happen?” she said.  
“That’s it,” spoke the deep voice of the man who had been dealing with the blonde drunk for two years. “I'm cutting you off. The hell outta my bar.”  
“Make me, ya prick.” Yang shot up, primed her gauntlet pistols and pointed them at his face. She let her bare hands sink a bit. “Oh, right.”  
She cursed Ozpin under her breath, as he had confiscated her gauntlets three months ago. In a drunken stupor, she had hospitalized six innocent people. Weiss had had to convince her father to pay thousands to get her off the hook.  
She sighed heavily, knowing what would come next. The butt of a gun against her already aching temple, the feeling of her knees scraping against the bar floor, the sensation of floating for a few seconds until finally, the sweet embrace of gravel imbedding itself in her face as she was thrown out. She braced herself for the hit to the head, but after a few seconds she opened her eyes. It never came.  
“So, does this mean you're gonna give me the damn bottle?” she asked sarcastically, attempting a smile and failing. “'Cause I could really use a bottle of vodka right now.”  
“What you could use is some help,” he said as he pulled out his scroll, quickly typing in a number. “I'm calling Blake.”  
At the mention of the faunus’ name, Yang jerked forward, but was pinned down by a bouncer. One of the same bouncers whose ass she could have kicked fifty of in the past, now held her down effortlessly. In the last two years, she’d lost almost all of her muscle.  
“If you call Blake, so help me God I will-“  
“You’ll what, Yang?” he snapped at her. “Look at yourself, for Christ's sake. You’ve turned into a pathetic nobody. There isn’t even a single shred of the old you left in there at all!” he yelled.  
Yang just stared at him in what she hoped to God at least resembled murderous intent.  
“Jesus, Yang. Ever since Ruby died you-“  
“Don't you DARE mention her name, you fucking piece of shit!” she bellowed before breaking free and rushing towards him. In a flurry of yellow, red and teeth, yang clung to Junior and bit his ear off. He howled in pain as a swarm of bouncers attempted ripping her off of him. It took seven full grown men to pry her off. It didn’t matter to Yang though, cause she left with a gift.  
“Eat shit and die, Junior!” she yelled as she spat his severed ear in his face.  
Through agonized screams, Junior ordered his men to take Yang out back and deal with her. And they did just that, dragging the limp woman to the back alley. They started beating her mercilessly. She didn’t care though.  
"Maybe I’ll finally find peace," she said to herself as she lay there, slowly inching toward death. However, fate did not see fit for Yang to die. In a flurry of green and screams, all the bouncers fell to the ground around her. In their stead stood a tall man dressed in green, black hair stretching to his ankles with a single pink strip running through it.  
“Hello Yang. Are you alright?”  
“Hey Ren. Got any booze?” Yang said with a bloody smile.


	2. Old Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren Plays with glass while yang thinks back on the lasttwo years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed two of the pairings as i was mentally editing the rough story line, now instead of bumblebee and weisscream its baked alaska and monochrome.

“Watch it greenie,” Yang warned as Ren was pulling the biggest shard of glass out of her hand. “Don’t make me hurt you.” Ren didn’t reply, choosing to focus on the task at hand.

“Talkative as ever huh?”

Ren looked up, mild annoyance on his face. “I’m trying to get tiny pieces of glass out of your palm with eyebrow tweezers. I don’t even want to know why you have these. Besides, this is a lot harder than phase two.”

“What’s phase two?” Yang asked. Ren, however, chose to ignore her and get back to his work. “I do so love these talks we have.”

After Ren killed Junior’s men, they opted to run before anyone thought to check on them. Not knowing where to go and Yang needing quick medical attention, they decided to go to a small park near the bar so Ren could patch her up. Ren hadn’t changed much in the last two years, stoic as ever. The only difference really was the length of his hair, clearly still never cut.

She let him focus on removing the glass and let herself get lost in her thoughts. When Ruby died, Yang's whole life went to shit. For the first few weeks, it was a festival of self-pity and staying in bed all day. People constantly came over to make sure she was alright, but it was all a blur to her now.

She tried going back to school, but soon she started getting angry, even by Yang standards. Between the empty words of people she knew didn’t really give a shit and her dad’s knew obsession with moonshine and its numbing effects, Yang went crazy. She started getting in fights with anyone who so much as bumped into her. Poor Jaune ended up in the infirmary after he ran into her, making her drop her lunch. Pyrrha didn’t talk to her for months after that. Contrary to popular belief, she felt really shitty for that. She really liked Jaune, he was one of Ruby’s best friends at Beacon.

Over time she just got worse and worse until she started following Taiyang's example. Once faculty found out about her “problem”, as they called it, they tried putting her into counselling, which led to another fight. Eventually she stopped going on missions, stopped training and even stopped eating. That all led up to three months ago when some asshole tried getting grabby on a particularly bad and drunk day for Yang. Last she knew, he was in a coma and the others who were caught in the cross fire of her rage weren’t doing so well either. That’s when Ozpin took her weapons.

It had been a while since she had seen any of her friends except for Blake who usually checked up on her to make sure she was okay. Most of those meetings ended with a fight, but she always came back. When Ozpin had confiscated her gauntlets, she took it as the last straw and decided to take a “leave of absence” from Beacon. The first week, all of her friends tried to get her to change her mind, but after a while, they just gave up. From what Blake said, team RWBY basically didn’t exist anymore. Weiss joined team JNPR as a temporary member and Blake just joined any mission she could.

She was so lost in thought that she hadn’t realized almost an hour had gone by, and with a pinch, the last piece of glass was out of her hand.

“There,” Ren said. “All done. That wasn’t that hard, now was it?”

“Bite me. So what’s phase two?” she asked. Her question was met with Ren pulling out a flask, a smile spreading on Yang's face. “Hey, Ren. You've been holding out.”

Yang's smile quickly fell as she realized just what it was for. “God damnit.”

***

“God DAMNIT!” Yang yelled as Ren poured what she could only assume was pure acid on her open wounds. “Gah! That stings like a bitch, ya closeted sadist!” Ren wrapped up her hand with a piece of cloth. Once he was done, she quickly withdrew her hand.

“Are you alright?” he asked, genuine concern in his voice.

“Yeah, just a little tipsy,” she said dawning a serious face. “So. How’s Nora doing? Haven’t talked to her in a while.”

“She’s doing fine,” he said. “She’s actually been asking about you a lot lately. She’s worried about you. We all are.”

“Bah, whatever. I’m fine,” she said quickly snatching the flask out of his hands and taking a swig, a decision she almost immediately regretted as she spit the vile liquid out and started gagging.

“Jesus Ren! What is this? Gasoline?” she spat.

“Moonshine.”

“Huh. Never figured you to be the homemade type of guy,” she said throwing the flask straight at his face. He caught it easily.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he said, holding the empty flask upside down and sighing before putting it away.

“So why’re you here, Ren?” she asked, patience running thin as her whole body ached and throbbed.

“Just coming to check up on you. Blake couldn’t make it, so I figured I-“

“Cut the crap, Ren,” she interrupted, slamming her good hand on the table. “Why are you really here?”

“As diligent as ever,” he said

“So…”

“Ozpin found a lead on the Grimm that killed Ruby. He’s called a meeting for everyone involved.”

Yang's face instantly darkened, any traces of pain now gone as adrenaline coursed through her system. “When and where,” she said, not asking but demanding.

“Right now, in his office at Beacon.”

Before he could even reply, she was already walking.

_"The Grimm that killed ruby,"_ Yang thought. " _Could it really be the same one?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, many thanks to my Best friend for editing!


	3. The Day the World Weapt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> decided to go little longer with this one:P

Yang and Ren walked the streets of the city in silence. She had tried questioning him on the details, but he knew as much as she did. Apparently he had gotten a message only a few hours ago telling him to get Yang and to meet at beacon.

Yang wasn’t in the mood to talk and thankfully Ren made no attempts to change that. That was one thing he was good for: silence. Even if he did talk, she probably wouldn’t be able to provide anything coherent. Between the thousands of questions thundering in her skull and her buzz turning into a hangover, she couldn’t think clearly.

_"The thing that killed Ruby; it wasn’t normal," s_ he thought to herself. " _Could Ozpin have really found it?"_

She wouldn’t admit it, but Yang was also a little nervous about seeing everyone for the first time in weeks. At the same time, on some subconscious level, she was happy. She missed her friends. There was one thought, however, that threatened to make Yang crumble. If Ozpin really had found the thing that killed Ruby, if she finally had a chance at revenge… Would she even stand a chance?

Not only had that Grimm killed Ruby, but it had also almost killed the rest of them. Hell, if it weren’t for professor Oobleck, they’d all be dead right now. Ever since that day, she learned just what kind of monster that professor was. It was because of him that they took the mission in the first place.

***2 years ago***

“So, what type of mission are we going on exactly?” chimed Ruby, jogging circles around her teammates as they walked down the runway towards the helibird. She was wearing her usual battle skirt and hood, crescent rose strapped on the small of her back. However, today a small, brown knapsack broke her signature colour scheme, packed with any supplies she may need.

“Apparently there have been reports of an odd Grimm patrolling the Forever Fall forest,” Weiss explained. “Professor Oobleck volunteered team RWBY to investigate.” Weiss of course carried an oversized camping kit filled with everything you could possibly need to survive a couple of apocalypses.

“Reports indicate that this kind of Grimm has never been seen before,” added Blake, clad in her usual uniform with the exception of a small black pouch. “This could mean trouble for the kingdoms.”

“Well if it gets to dangerous, we could always just crush it with Weiss’ back pack,” Yang offered.

“Hey!” the heiress exclaimed. “I’ll have you know the contents of this bag are the bare essentials to survive outside the city walls. And it’s not like you have the right to talk, miss ‘did not bring anything at all’.”

“Hey, all I need to survive are my two best friends,” Yang said, pounding her fists together, a small explosion emerging from the act.

“Well whatever the case may be,” their leader added standing as tall as she could in front of them, making them stop, “since the whole train thing and the whole almost destroyed the whole kingdom thing we haven’t gotten any away missions. This is our chance to prove just how great team RWBY is.”

“Yeah!” screamed Yang, raising her fist in the air. “We’re the number one team in all of Beacon!”

At that statement, even Weiss and Blake gave in, giving their own little cheers. Once they reached the helibird, however, they noticed that their teacher wasn’t there yet. Blake reached into her pack and checked her scroll: _8:59._

“Hmm... It’s not like professor Oobleck to be late,” she said

“Who’s late? We're all here,” proclaimed Oobleck, materializing behind Blake, scaring her into a wall. “It appears as though everyone’s on board, so let’s go! Up, up and away!” he said in his million mile per hour tone before disappearing into the cockpit.

“Jeez,” yang said. “He might even be faster than you, Rubes.”

“As if,” she said. She would’ve said more in defiance, but the whole compartment rocked as the ship took off.

***

“So, what’s the plan?” asked Ruby, almost too excitedly. “Do we charge in and beat it up? Or maybe we just cut the whole forest down, huh?”

“Calm down, Ruby,” came Weiss’ cold but joking voice. “You're starting to sound like your sister.”

“Hey!” Yang yelled.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Oobleck said as he walked onto the main deck. “I’d like to direct your attention to the heads up display upon the wall.”

He pressed a button and suddenly half the ship's main wall lit up, revealing a map of the Forever Fall forest. Areas around the center were highlighted in red, while the surrounding area was highlighted in green.

“If you would kindly direct your attention to the areas in red,” Oobleck started speaking way too fast for Yang or Ruby to follow, so they just looked and nodded. “The areas in red are quadrants of the forest in which this special Grimm has been spotted. There are five general quadrants to be searched, so we will split up and each search one quadrant. We will keep in touch with these wireless Wind-Dust communicators.” He handed every member a small black ear piece and instructed everyone to put them on while he tested frequencies.

“Can you all hear me?” he asked, releasing a loud screeching sound in their headset. Blake ripped hers off and covered her highly sensitive ears. Weiss immediately moved to comfort her.

“Watch what you’re doing, professor!” Weiss chastised, helping Blake to her feet. “Are you okay?” she asked, cupping Blake’s face to check for any signs of permanent damage.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Blake said, picking up the ear piece and hurriedly walking away from Weiss, a slight blush on her face. Only Yang seemed to notice.

_"Interesting,"_ she thought.

“Yes, I apologize for that,” Oobleck spoke, again calling all attention to him. “As I was saying, we will use these headsets to communicate with each other and report to the other four members of the party, should one of us spot the Grimm. Our mission here is to kill this new Grimm and retrieve its body. Since it has never before been seen, I don’t want to take any unnecessary risks. If you spot the Grimm, report and wait for everyone to regroup. Do not engage. Am I clear?”

“Yes, sir,” they all said in tandem.

“Good,” Oobleck stated with satisfaction. “Now then, I will take section one; Blake, section two; Weiss, section three; Yang, section four; and Ruby, section five. Is everyone clear on their task?” he asked one last time as the doors began to open. The question was met with a second amalgamation of ‘yes, sir’s.

“Good,” he said. “Now, begin.”

And with those words, team RWBY dispersed to their separate squadrons before the doors had even fully opened.

***

Ruby had searched every square inch of her quadrant for the last two hours, but to no avail. She was now sore everywhere and had exhausted her aura using her semblance to look faster.

“Urgh, this is useless,” she said into her headpiece. “I haven’t even run into a single regular Grimm, much less some special one.”

She stopped running and sat on a high branch over-looking a clearing.

“Oh stop your whining, Ruby” came Weiss’ voice on the headset. “We haven’t even been out here all that long.”

“Yeah, Rubes,” came Yang’s. “Why don’t you just try and have some fun while we’re at it?”

“Need I remind you girls that we are on an important mission?” came Ooblecks voice, making all the chatter stop. “Get back to work.”

A unified “Yes, sir.”

Ruby took off her headset and took a moment to relax, bathing in the sun and breathing in the fresh air. A lot of people she knew were to some extent scared of the outside, but Ruby found it calming, untouched by civilization. Remaining in its natural state, sometimes she wondered if the grimms really were the evil ones…

She closed her eyes for only a moment, but when she opened them, there it was, standing in the middle of the clearing, like it hadn’t a care in the world: the Grimm.

She knew this was what they were after because of the way it looked. Specifically, how human it looked. It stood on two legs, eight feet tall, with two arms and an average sized head. It was covered from head to toe in black fur and its right hand was a compilation of knife like appendages. She knew that thing could slice through rock just on instinct. However, regardless of its human stature or razor right hand, it was its left arm that drew Ruby’s attention. From the shoulder to the mid forearm it looked like a normal arm but halfway down the forearm it erupted into what looked like a giant cylinder of a meter long and roughly a quarter meter wide. At the end of the monstrosity, there were three blunt claws, as if to hold someone in place.

Ruby slowly reached down and put her headset back on, her nerves and senses all on edge.

“This is Ruby. I’m in a clearing on the northern border of section 5. I’ve got eyes on the target. It hasn’t seen me yet and is open to attack. I’m moving in,” Ruby said, instinctively collecting aura in her feet and drawing crescent rose. “I repeat: target confirmed; I’m moving in.”

“No, don't engage until everyone is in position,” came Weiss’ voice over the speaker. But it was too late. Ruby was already surging forward at incredible speed, scythe at the ready.

***

“Ruby, do _not_ engage until everyone is together,” Yang warned. But she knew it was too late. She'd recognize the distinct sound of Ruby’s semblance firing off from anywhere. Unfortunately, the last thing anyone heard before Ruby’s connection failed was a bloodcurdling scream that could only be described as caused by pure agony.

“Ruby? Ruby! RUBY!!!” Yang yelled into her headset. “Damnit! Everyone get to that clearing now!” Yang ordered. It was met with a thrice repeated ‘Roger’.

It didn’t take long for Yang to reach the clearing; she was the closest. When she arrived at the clearing though, her heart broke into a million pieces. She made it passed the tree line just in time to see a limp Ruby being held in the cylindrical arm of the foul creature. It let out a devastating howl of despair and sent a pike flying out of its arm and through Ruby’s stomach, sending flying blood in all directions. It then threw her to the ground like a broken doll.

“RUBY!!!” Yang yelled with all the life she had. Her whole body was enveloped in a burning flame and she surged toward it as Blake and Weiss broke the tree line. “YOU BASTARD!” She darted forward like a meteor bursting through the atmosphere, a promise of death. However, she stopped dead in her tracks when… it spoke.

**_“Hello, little doll.”_ **

The voice made her come to a skidding halt. It hit her very core and amplified her despair thousand fold. It ate away at everything she was. Hearing it made her mentally fall into a pit of eternal darkness and for a moment, the whole world froze. Blake and Weiss were experiencing the same effects.

Then at an almost impossible speed, the Grimm bolted for Yang, closing the distance in a split second, landing a direct hit on Yang's midsection, sending her flying. The pain was immense and the force of the hit made her vomit when she landed. Weiss and Blake tried to run to her, but were caught off guard by approaching Beowolves, arriving out of nowhere. As they fought off the Beowolves, more and more creatures of Grimm started emerging from the woods.

Yang tried to get up, but she was in too much pain. She had to have broken every rib in her chest. Her left arm was bending at an odd angle.

“Yang, watch out!” Blake yelled as she killed a Beowolf.

Yang looked up in time to see the Grimm standing above her, staring down into her eyes. Whatever dread she felt when it spoke was nothing compared to looking directly into its eyes. In that instant, there was only them, the world around them swallowed by darkness. Yang couldn’t move as it raised its right hand, ready for the kill.

The strike never came, however, as the spell was broken by Oobleck who tackled the creature and began to fight it. As the darkness fell away, she realized the clearing was filled with Grimm as far as the eye could see. But no matter what was going on around her, all she could focus on was Oobleck, slowly pushing the abnormal Grimm back. As he used his weapon fires started to erupt until he was surrounded by a ring of fire. As if here were at the gates of hell themselves.

It didn’t last forever though, as he called for everyone to retreat.

He ran to pick up the motionless Yang and made a beeline for the helibird, Blake and Weiss close behind.

“NO!” Yang yelled. “We can’t leave Ruby! We have to help her!”

The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was the abnormal Grimm, followed by all the others, swarming Ruby’s limp form. To this day, her greatest regret was leaving Ruby’s body behind.

***Present day***

“Hey, Yang,” came Ren’s voice, snapping her back to reality and waking her from her trance. “You okay? You're crying.”

And she was. She felt warm streaks falling down her face. “I’m fine,” she said, quickly wiping her face. “What’s up?”

“We’re here.”

She looked up and was met with the familiar campus that surrounded Beacon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always thanks to my friend r for editing!!


	4. Highscool Reunion

The ride in the elevator was long and silent. Nothing but the sound of dings every two seconds threatened the peace, until the eventual final beep and the hiss of the doors opening.

When Yang walked in, she was surprised to see that, as a matter of fact, everyone was here. Team JNPR, Weiss, Blake, Tai Yang, uncle Qrow, General Ironwood, Oobleck, Glynda, Ozpin and even team CFVY. Many of them had changed so much these past two years. Jaune had clearly changed the most. He was a few inches taller, now on par with Pyrrha’s height, and had clearly defined muscles under his shirt. He also had an air of maturity surrounding him, his usual dopey smile replaced with a stern authoritarian glare.

Norra had also changed a lot, though most noticeably her hair, much like Ren's, had grown tremendously, reaching her lower back. Weiss and Blake stood together in one corner of the room whispering to each other. Weiss had long since grown out of her combat dress and now wore flexible pants and a vest with defensive padding on the inside. Though covered by an undershirt, it was her understanding that Weiss used her semblance to tattoo glyphs onto her right arm. Everyone else dawned the same usual outfits they had since she last saw them.

There was one thing she noticed before anyone saw her that bugged her. Even though they were all on campus, they were all armed. Once people noticed she was there, all activity stopped.

“Guess I’m a little underdressed,” Yang said smugly, referring to her almost too plain grey t-shirt and jeans.

“Yang,” Blake gasped from her corner before running towards her, leaving behind an annoyed Weiss who eventually followed. “What the hell happened to you?”

“Nah, I'm fine,” she replied, swatting away hands trying to inspect her wounds. “Just a little run in with some thugs. Ol’ green bean there took care of them before I could.”

“Thank you, Ren,” Blake said quickly then moved to grab Yang's hand. “Are you sure you-“

“Blake!” Yang shouted. “I’m not here for some fuzzy reunion or check-up. I’m here because I was told Oz had information on the bastard that killed Ruby.”

At that, everyone’s faces turned sombre and in some way shape or form looked away. Except one.

“Now, now, Yang. She’s just trying to look after you. Lord knows you won’t,” came Coco’s superior tone as she walked over and strung her arm around her neck. “Is that any way to talk to her after all she’s done for you? As a matter of fact, what kind of words are those that are the first out of your mouth to us in three months? Hmm?”

“Hello Coco, as cheery as ever.”

“Two strikes. I'll let you try one last time.”

Yang sighed and relented. “Hey everyone, how ya been?”

At that, the tension in the air seemed to evaporate and every one of her friends came close to her and bombarded her with ‘how have you been’s. Even Jaune, who she thought for sure hated her guts, gave her a hug. Through it all, Yang kept up her smug appearance, but deep down, was happy to see them. The happiness was interrupted, however, when Ozpin cleared his throat loud enough for everyone to hear and everyone turned their heads.

“Hello, Yang,” he said in his wise old tone. “It’s been a while. I’m glad you could join us.”

“Any time,” she said. “So what exactly is this information you seem so privy to share with the class?”

“Yes, well… There is much to cover, so I want everyone’s full attention as Ironwood gives you what we know.”

And with that, everyone got into their own little huddles to listen. Blake and Weiss next to Yang; team JNPR and team CFVY in different little groups too.

“Thank you, Ozpin,” general Ironwood said as he stepped forward clad in full military attire. “As of today, this is what we know.” He pressed a button and multiple screens popped up with images of documents, blueprints and numbers on them.

“Thirteen days ago, we received an anonymous package containing information on what looks to be some kind of experiment, though we can’t make heads or tails of it. There were, however, coordinates in this package that led us to an abandoned factory in North-Town. When we raided the building, it turns out it was being used as a top secret lab for the White Fang-“

“Wait, what?” came Blake's voice. “The White Fang may be an organized group, but they’re radical terrorists. They don’t have the means to operate any sort of scientific operation, much less any motive to.”

“Yes, Miss Belladonna, that had our division worried as well. But from what we found among the surviving data proved that the facility was in fact operated by the White Fang,” Ironwood explained.

“What do you mean 'surviving data'?” came Jaune's voice, which had also changed. Now much deeper. “Did something happen at the lab?”

“Honestly, we’re not sure what happened,” Ironwood said, pressing another button revealing horrid pictures of mangled bodies and blood covered walls. “This is the state we found the lab in once we got there. We did, however, manage to rescue some prisoners.”

“Prisoners?” this time coming from Velvet.

“Test subjects,” Glynda added, making Velvet shrink in on her self.

“Oh.”

“Yes,” Ironwood coughed. “There was evidence in what we found that these people were experimented on. We couldn’t interrogate them, however, as upon leaving the facility, they all died of unknown causes. Upon realizing there was nothing they could do, the team followed the trail of destruction into the Forever Fall forest, and upon reaching its end…” He paused. “Was the most shocking discovery.”

He clicked another button and an image blipped into existence on a wide screen. This image showed a vaguely human creature torn to pieces with black blood surrounding it. Even though it was decapitated, there was no mistaking it. This thing was the Grimm that killed Ruby. There was something weird in the blood, however, that Yang couldn’t quite see, but was sure she recognized. Ironwood seemed to notice her expression and spoke again.

“It seems you’ve noticed, Yang, that among the blood of this creature, which would usually dissolve, we found a foreign object,” he said as he zoomed in.

What Yang saw made her heart drop and jump into her throat at the same time. She saw what should’ve been impossible and the expression of shock and realization slowly spread across everyone's faces. It was painfully visible, however, on Yang's, her father's, and Crow's faces.

Rose petals.


	5. Ruby Rose Part 1

“How is she?” echoed a confident female voice, followed by the clacking of her heels on the pristine linoleum. The end of her crimson dress swaying behind her, a mere inch above the ground.

“Respiration is normal, regeneration normal, aura generation… normal.” The second voiced sighed the last word. The second body dawned a lab coat swaying behind him.

“I see. How many test subjects do we have left?”

“Only three, though our last breakthrough was close enough, we could risk using the ro-“

“No.” It was a simple command, but uttered with such authority that the scientist had no choice but to comply.

“Yes, ma'am. We’ll use #403 to perfect the current test. Once we can guarantee survival, I’ll send word.”

As they approached a fork in the long white corridor, the woman reached over and put a knife to the scientist's throat, causing him to stop in his tracks. After a few seconds, she withdrew the blade.

“We do not use her until we know she can survive.”

“Yes, ma'am,” he said with hesitation, standing in place as the woman walked off. He waited until she was out of earshot before he dared move. " _Foolish bitch,"_ he thought to himself. " _If it weren’t for her, we’d already be beyond this stage."_

She walked the empty hallway, passing door after door with small windows and identification numbers. She walked for a long time before she reached her intended destination, a door numbered 8 in red. She walked into a small room with computers, a two way mirror, a second door, and two men.

The room was fairly small and on one side, sat a desk and computer station that beeped away. On the other side was the door and mirror. Like everything else in this base, the floor, ceiling, and walls were painted a pristine white without a single blemish. A man was sitting at the desk doing intense calculations; temperature, air pressure, oxygen levels, blood levels, heart rate. He was in charge of making sure subject 8 was in good health. Other than his bright red hair, he had no discernable traits; like everything here, almost too generic. The other man was one of Adam's men, one of the White Fang. Even though he was taken in as security from the outside, he somehow looked even more generic than the scientist.

_"Boring,"_ she thought to herself. She hated everything about this place; there was never any action. The only thing she remotely cared about in this pristine hell-hole was subject 8. She was the only promise of fun. Even though she hated these visits, they were necessary.

“Is she awake?” she asked the scientist.

“See for yourself,” he said in a snide tone. If his skill set wasn’t so unique and necessary, she would’ve burned him to ash on the spot. She’d have to remember to do that later. Instead she casually strode to the two-way mirror to “see for herself”. As she approached, she saw that subject 8 was indeed awake and meditating. She sat in a rectangular room twice the size of the room behind the mirror. There were books everywhere: on shelves, on the floor, on the table. In the back left corner, there was a simple bed with red sheets and blankets. The walls were beige but adorned with art and posters. Covering two of the walls were long brown bookshelves overflowing with stories and knowledge. In the dead center was a simple round table on which she sat.

The woman looked at her reflection and mentally prepared herself. " _You can do this, Cinder. It'll only be for a few minutes, then you can leave this shithole and return to the real world,"_ she told herself. Instead of her usual glare and menacing smile, she put on one filled with warmth and softened her look. She walked over to the guard and said she was going in. He quickly got out of her way and opened the door.

As she walked in, subject 8 opened her eyes and her face erupted in an ear to ear grin.

“Cinder!” she shouted as she quickly got up and ran towards her at incredible speed, embracing her on contact. She quickly broke the hug and stood on her toes to give the taller woman a kiss. Once she broke away she whispered “I missed you.”

At the contact, she blushed uncharacteristically, her carnal desires betraying her mask of deception and bringing rise to something she wished had stayed hidden. It was one of the reasons she hated this girl, the girl that constantly interfered with her plans and was constantly on her mind since their first encounter. She hated that she tried so hard to save her life, she hated her carefree attitude and most of all, she hated how this wretched girl always made her lose control of herself. Regaining her composure, Cinder said with a smile “Hello Ruby.”

***

“So,” Ruby said to Cinder. “What have you been doing since you visited last?”

After Ruby held Cinder for what seemed like forever, she dragged her over to the bed and made her sit. Once a flustered Cinder was sitting, Ruby quickly laid her head on her lap. Cinder was wearing the same red dress she always wore with her black collar.

As for Ruby, she wore her usual grey pyjamas. They were long plain pants and a button up shirt with a pocket over her left breast. She hated the way they looked, but the doctors insisted it was for her safety, that anything rougher could damage her skin. That was the only thing she liked about them. They were soft, softer than anything she had ever felt, or at least remembered feeling.

“Not much,” Cinder said, stroking Ruby’s hair affectionately. “Nothing interesting.”

“Aw come on, I know you do tons of fun stuff. You’re like a hero, for Pete’s sake. You go out and kill the bad guys, right? I heard the Faunus guy talking to the lab coat guy. He said you infiltrated an enemy school and are starting to make progress.”

“Oh did he?” Cinder said with a laugh. Ruby could’ve sworn she heard something in Cinder's voice, but chose to ignore it. She was just happy she came to see her. With how busy she was, Ruby was happy just to see her face. Especially recently. She’d been visiting less and less. Ruby hated going for a test without seeing Cinder first.

“Well, it’s nothing so grand. I’m just trying to get information on the people that hurt you.” At that, Ruby’s smile vanished, causing Cinder to stop rubbing her head.

“Did you find them?” she asked.

“I believe so,” Cinder replied.

“Are you going to hurt them?”

“Of course I am. They hurt my little rose after all,” she said with a wicked smile. Ruby turned onto her back so she could see Cinder’s face. She looked directly into her eyes. Whenever Ruby looked into her eyes she could see things she knew Cinder tried to hide. But Ruby could see it: the darkness inside of her, the pain, and most of all, the loneliness. Cinder would always come here with a smile on her face, one that could make a sociopath fall in love. But Ruby saw the truth beneath those eyes. She knew that Cinder probably lied, that Cinder probably did bad things and hurt people. But Ruby didn’t care. She knew deep down Cinder was good.

While Ruby may not remember anything prior to meeting Cinder two years ago, she made a promise to herself: she would be the one to vanquish that darkness, to sooth that pain, and to end that loneliness.

“Cinder?” Ruby said softly. “Do you think you’re a bad person?”

Cinder was silent for a long time at that. When she saw the look on her face, Ruby immediately regretted asking.

“Never mind. Forget it. It was a st-“

“No, Ruby, I don’t think I’m a bad person,” Cinder interrupted. As Cinder spoke, there was malice in her voice. “I know I am. It’s all I’ve ever been and it’s all I’ll ever be.”

When she finished talking, she got up and walked towards the door. Ruby was too stunned to move. She had never seen Cinder act this way and didn’t know what had brought it on.

“A year ago, when you told me you wanted to ‘be with me’, I told you it couldn’t ever happen because we were too different. This is why,” came Cinder's voice, all traces of kindness gone. “We are two extremities on the spectrum of good and evil and the-“

Mid-sentence, Cinder froze, feeling arms wrap around her stomach and a body lean against her back.

“You’re not a bad person. I know it.”

“Oh?” Cinder quickly turned around and grabbed hold of Ruby's arm, pulling down the sleeve, revealing the long and thick scar that started at her wrist and disappeared under the rest of her clothes. “Is this what the actions of a good person look like?” She let Ruby’s arm fall to her side. “You are an ignorant fool, Ruby.” Cinder once again made for the door and grabbed the handle. However she was stopped again by a call for her name.

“What?” she demanded, clearly getting angry. The look of anger was replaced by a look of shock, put there by the fact that Ruby had stripped off her top, showing a gigantic circular scar on her stomach. As if reading Cinder's mind, that’s exactly what she pointed to.

“This is how I know you’re a good person. You risked your life and resources to save me.” The conviction with which Ruby spoke gave Cinder chills, but soon her expression turned to one of unparalleled evil; a look that made Ruby freeze.

“That,” Cinder said opening the door, “was an investment.” When she finished speaking, refusing to allow anymore interruptions, she left and slammed the door behind her, leaving Ruby there alone as she began to cry.

Thinking it was just some sort of delusion caused by her overacting emotions, Ruby chose to ignore the smell of burning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry!!!!! i meant to update awhile ago but you know school. also OMG it broke 600 yaaaaayyyy! tank you everyone who's read, kudos's and supported so far! And especially thank you R my best friend who once again took time out of her even busier schedule to peer edit!


	6. Aspirations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We look at the information we have so far.

Heavy pounding rang around the gym as Yang let loose a fury of fists against the punching bag. It was way past the time for the gym to close, but the owner gave up trying to kick her out a week ago. He learned pretty quickly what happens when you try to grab fire.

Ever since the meeting in Ozpin’s office, she had been on an intense self-made training program, which mostly consisted of punching stuff and building her muscle. In the last two weeks she’d only gotten 4 hours a night and only took breaks to eat; all other time was spent there; getting stronger.

Over that period, she had regained most of her muscle mass and was almost ready to take the reinstatement exam into Beacon. If she could do that, they would let her join the task force.

“ _The task force,”_ Yang thought to herself as she took a water break. She always became dehydrated faster than most. She noticed the gym keys next to her bottle and sighed.

***2 weeks ago, Ozpin's office***

“What the hell is this?” Yang and Qrow yelled at the same time, while everyone stared in shock at the picture shown before them.

“Is this some kind of fucked up joke?” Yang continued, flames bursting in her hair. She was moving towards Ozpin, but Blake stopped her with a hand.

“Yang, calm down. Let him speak,” she said in as calming a voice as possible, though she couldn’t hide its shakiness. “We don’t know what this means.”

Yang looked around in a rage but forced herself to calm down as she saw everyone’s hands drift towards their weapons. Weiss was especially battle ready, unbeknownst to Yang, ready to jump between her and Blake at the drop of a pin. There was a moment of silence that seemed to last longer than possible. Ozpin broke it.

“Yang, please relax. As blake said we don’t know wh-“

“Cut the crap, Oz,” came Qrows stern voice. “What the hell is with this dossier? You got about 10 seconds to start talking before I beat it out of you.”

“Watch your mouth-“ came Ironwoods voice, interrupted by yang and Tai Yang.

“Shut up.”

“Start talking, Ozpin,” said Tai Yang.

As this scene went on, most everyone in the room was just watching silently, not daring to get any closer to this powder keg. Things were getting more intense as tension began to sky rocket until it became so unbearable, something had to be done. A loud ‘ _thwack_ ’ pierced all noise and everyone looked to the source: Glynda Goodwitch.

“Enough. You may express your concerns once the debriefing is over. Until then, remain quiet and listen. Don’t make me make you.” She spoke shooting Qrow a death stare. At that moment everyone quieted down instantly, especially Yang. It may have been awhile but she still remembered her fear of that damn riding crop. As she calmed down, Blake finally pulled her hand away and gave Yang a sorrowful look.

“Fine,” Yang said. “But you'd better start telling us the important details.”

“Of course,” Ozpin said as he got up from his chair and walked towards the display. “As Miss Belladonna said, we don’t know what this means. It could be anything. What we do know is that since Ruby’s death two years ago, we’ve been scouring the kingdoms and beyond trying to find any trace of the Grimm that did the deed. However, no matter how many resources we put into the hunt, we could not find anything except for non-credible eyewitnesses; until now, that is. The dossier we received mostly had code we couldn’t make sense of, but there was some good information.”

Ozpin's voice slowed as he saw Nora jumping up and down with her hand raised, and heard Ren’s sigh.

“Yes, Miss Valkarye?” he said.

“Who gave you the info?” As her question was asked, the room fell tense again, though mostly because of everyone’s surprise at a pertinent question coming from Nora.

“We’re not sure,” came the general's voice. “Ozpin returned to his office after leave and found a thumb drive with an ' _n'_ written on the surface on his desk.” That statement also brought about a fair amount of shock. Next was Weiss’ turn to interject.

“Wait, you mean they…”

“Yes, Miss Schnee. Whoever gave us this information slipped onto school grounds and into my office to do so. Other than the ' _n_ ', we have no clues as to who delivered the information. But we should be thankful they did. On the drive was a date and a location with the word ' _test_ '. The coordinates and dates appeared six times.  The first four could be traced to some of the aforementioned eyewitnesses. The other two were on the 12th two months from now, and the day Ruby died. We believe the Grimm will make a reappearance, which is why I’m putting together a task force. I’m gathering Beacon's finest to go and scout the area the day of. The people in this room, if you accept, will be that task force”

“Wait,” came Pyrrhas voice. “I’m glad we have a lead about the Grimm, but we can’t deny what we saw in that picture. So I have to ask: is there a chance Ruby’s alive?” At the question, all members of Ruby’s family looked to Ozpin.

“There… is a possibility.”

“Then isn’t the answer obvious?” Pyrrha asked rhetorically. “Of course we’re in. Even if the chance is small, there _still is_ a chance, so we have no choice.” This earned a chorus of 'yeah's from everyone in the room.

“So when do we start kicking ass, Professor?” Yang asked enthusiastically. After a short pause, Ozpin replied.

“You will not be on the task force, Miss Xiao Long.”

“What?!” She yelled loud enough to shatter eardrums.

“This task force must consist of Beacon personnel only. You are no longer such.”

“Wha- Are you fu-” Before she could protest, Ozpin raised a hand and silenced her.

“Fortunately for you, Miss Xiao Long,” Ozpin said with a spreading smile. “due to extenuating circumstances, I was forced to push Beacon’s entrance exams to one month from now. If you can pass, I will be able to reinstate you into Beacon's student body.”

After a long while, Yang silently stormed out of the room.

***Present, Beacon Gym***

“ _I have to pass that exam,”_ Yang thought to herself, finishing her water. After her last swallow, she got up and got back to work.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am so so so so soooo sorry for uploading so late but FUCK LIFE amaright? this series is NOT dead!!!


	7. Phase 2

_“Why is he here?”_ Cinder thought to herself, walking by familiarly bland white walls, dress swaying behind her. It had been about a month since her last visit and she had only come this time because the egg heads said they had made a breakthrough and she should be there. To her dismay, she wasn’t the only one they called.

She kept walking until she reached a guarded doorway labelled “Observatory”. As she approached, the two masked guards tensed, one opening the door for her without her even having to do anything. They were scared of her and she couldn’t be happier about it. As she walked through, she was faced with a long spiral staircase leading up to the main observation room.

As she crossed the final threshold, she saw him, the bastard she hated almost as much as that pseudo brotherhood.

“Hello, Adam,” she said walking towards him with a sway in her step. The room was of average size, roughly ten meters long and five wide, all painted that sickeningly clean white Cinder hated so much. Things should never be this clean. The right wall was covered with charts, boards, and screens, all illegible to cinder. At the opposite end was another door that led to the main chamber. On the left was a large window with computers on each side of it and scientist filled chairs to match them. The window was the most eye-catching thing in the whole room: floor to ceiling and seven meters wide. What laid beyond, however, was even more impressive than the window.

“Hello, Cinder. Here for the test?” he asked as she joined him, looking out at the window. She didn’t reply. He was wearing the same coat he always wore except this time he wasn’t wearing his mask, which was quite odd. “You know, one of these days, you’re going to have to acknowledge me.”

Cinder walked toward him and looked out the window. What lay beyond was a massive circular room that could fit an entire house. All along its walls were vault like doors of varying sizes. In the exact centre was a table on which Ruby lay.

“No, I won’t,” Cinder said without even looking at him, instead choosing to focus on Ruby. “You know what’s curious, Adam? Why you’re here.”

“You know what’s more curious, Cinder?” he said in a sudden serious tone. “The fact that a month ago, my men apparently had to scrape the charred remains of their comrade off of a wall.”

“That ‘comrade’ was mouthy. He let slip information that could’ve put a serious hole in our plans.”

“Really? That’s your excuse? You didn’t seem to have much trouble using that ‘valuable information’ to have fun with the girl.”

Cinder glanced his way at his comment.

“Oh, yeah. You may have most fooled—especially her—but I know you. You’re just manipulating her emotions as some sick way of entertaining yourself. I saw the footage from that day. The fact that she genuinely thinks you're a good person makes me feel bad for her.”

“So?” Cinder said with a devious smile after a long pause. “So what if I’m trying to have a little fun here and there? It doesn’t affect you in any way. Whether I use her to entertain myself a bit or not is of no consequence to your plans.”

“Are you serious?” Adam shouted. “I may not know what the  hell you're doing to that girl, but whatever it is, I'm pretty sure her mental state is important. If she finds out you’re just fucking with her, what do you think she’ll do?”

“Do you want to know?” Cinder asked. “What we’re doing with her, I mean? You’ve poured so many resources into this facility, I thought it was time we let you in on what we’re up to.”

Cinders proposal made Adam hesitate. Since Cinder had first approached him about her plans, she had refused to give him any details. He objected at first, but once he figured out who was pulling the strings on her end, he decided to just do his best to stay out of their way. “Do you think that’s smart? If your boss finds out..”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that too much. If you’re here, then she’s given you her approval, no matter how much I hate it.” And she had. Why would Salem let someone like Adam see the tests when she already had Cinder? There was no need for someone else. Cinder was all she needed.

“Fine then,” Adam said after regaining his composure.

“We’re turning her into a Grimm.”

“What!?” Adam exclaimed, losing his composure yet again. “What do you mean you-”

“Shut up and let me talk,” she said. “There is a forgotten story among my people about a young girl without a name. This girl lived in a cavern rich with pure dust ore. After years and years of surviving, living off nothing but the energy the dust created, she began to change. She had been among the ore so long that the dust had fused with every cell of her body. One day, she had absorbed all the vein had to offer and was forced to leave to find another source of dust. When she emerged into the dark of the world, she encountered the Grimm. They immediately attacked the girl and she didn’t know what to do so she did what she had done her whole life. She focused on absorbing everything around her, and in the end, she absorbed the Grimm itself. When the battle was over, she went through a metamorphosis. She turned into a Grimm. When the power of Grimm made contact with the pure power of dust, it granted the girl an amazing power: the power to change between human and Grimm whenever she wanted. They say she was the first huntress and taught humans how to use dust to fight the Grimm.”

“What does some old wives' tale have to do with what you’re doing?”

“By infusing dust into a patient’s body, we complete step one of re-creating that process.”

“You mean to tell me you're torturing people chasing after some mythic ability that may or may not be real?” Adam inquired.

“Oh, it’s real. We’ve already successfully created a human-Grimm hybrid.”

“What?”

“You see, we’ve already created several of them. The problem isn’t turning someone into a Grimm, a hurdle we expected to be much harder to pass, but rather turning them back. All of our test subjects have been unable to return to their human form, and as a result, the power of Grimm completely overcame them and they lost their minds. Ruby was the first to overcome that hurdle.”

After listening, Adam turned to look down at the still Ruby. “Are you saying that… that she can turn into a Grimm at will?”

“Yes,” Cinder said with a devilish smile. “Though it isn’t perfect. It takes a while and she has difficulty controlling herself while she’s a Grimm. You see, after phase one, what we would usually do is force a subject to absorb mass amounts of power of Grimm all at once. But in Ruby’s case, we decided to move slower, to only dose her a little bit at a time and then let her body adjust. This will be the last treatment.”

“Wait but how do you make them absorb the po-”

“Miss Fall,” came the voice of one of the scientists. “Preparations are complete. We can inject the F.T.A. at your command.”

“Good,” she said, looking to Adam. “Just watch. I think you’ll like what you see.” Adam hesitated, but finally complied and turned to the display window. Cinder leaned down to the microphone that sat on the table in front of the window and activated it. She immediately adapted the persona she used whenever she spent time with Ruby. “Hello, Ruby, it's Cinder. I know you can hear me, but I can’t hear you.”

At the sound of Cinder's voice, Ruby perked up, but was quickly chastised. “Ah, ah, ah. You can’t move while you're on the table, you know that. Now listen, we’re about to begin the test and it will hurt like last time, but I know you’ll be strong for me, right?”

Without moving too much. Ruby gave an almost invisible nod.

“Good girl,” Cinder said, pulling away from the mic. She looked over to the scientist. “Alright. Send them in.”

The scientists on both side of the window started pressing buttons and all the doors except the largest opened. Out of all of them came large carts with a variety of sickly Grimm on each one. The carts all came out far enough to just barely be out of their doors.

“Whats with the Grimm?” Adam asked.

“Just watch. This is where it gets fun,” Cinder mused. “Begin the injection.”

More buttons were pressed and a device that sat next to the table Ruby was on began to move. It extended the needle it held all the way into Ruby's neck and liquid disappeared into her blood. At first, nothing happened, but after about ten seconds, Ruby began to shake and soon started uncontrollably screaming in agony. All the Grimm followed suit. In a matter of seconds, all the Grimm were thrashing around. A few seconds after the horrifying chorus began Ruby’s eyes began to glow a blinding white and the Grimm all evaporated into a thick black mist that began swirling around the room, Ruby at the vortex's centre. This went on for a while as her screams got louder. She refused to tell anyone why, but at this stage, Cinder usually felt the need to look away unless it was Ruby. She forced herself to look, as if she had to see what she was doing to another human being.  After what felt like hours to Adam, all the smoke barrelled to the centre of the room and dissipated.

Instead of Ruby, he saw a large cocoon like object that was a pure white and covered with intricate and symmetrical red patterns.

“Start the clock,” Cinder said turning to Adam. “Now, we wait. It usually takes around two minutes.”

Too shocked to speak, Adam just kept starring. And so they waited. It felt like it was going to go on forever until one of the scientists spoke.

“Energy readings are rapidly increasing. So is heart rate and brain activity. The shell is cracking.”

“Send it in,” Cinder said. At her command the scientists got back to work and the last door of the room blew opened. Out came an oversized, not so sickly Deathstalker, and it charged towards Ruby. It didn’t get far, however, as the cocoon shattered in all directions and in a feat of impossible speed, the Deathstalker was ripped to shreds and the room was painted with its black blood. In the centre of it all was a completely black creature with eyes as red as fire. It held regular human shape except for its arms: they were much longer, each finger a talon as long as the blade of a scythe.

Adam stared down at what was once a small human girl.

“That is how we complete stage two,” Cinder said with a hopeful smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and feedback appreciated


End file.
